Definitions and theories professions and professionalization have long been tailored on a set of professions established in England during the 19th century. Chartered surveyors belong in that group, but have not received the attention afforded to other members of the core set. This paper, conceived as a contribution to a theory of the relation between state, knowledge and profession, draws on the historical case of 19th century British surveyors. It analyses the interface between state and profession, in an age when it became increasingly important to “reconcile the principle that the domain of the political must be restricted, with the recognition of the vital political implications of formally private activities.” Surveyors were claimants to a configuration of tasks – centred on the nexus of land, law and money – which made them an important auxiliary to the state apparatus and its technologies. This paper traces, through comparison of British surveyors over time and through juxtaposition with Swedish surveyors, how these tasks, and a corresponding knowledge-base, were shaped by the inclusion of new subspecialties and a complex legal environment.

3. The professional field of higher education

Agevall, Ola

et al.

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences.

The modern field of higher education, and within it the corps of university teachers, takes on a dual significance in the context of the broader professional landscape. On the one hand it constitutes a professional field in its own right. On the other hand, the university is the institution through which the other professions are reproduced. It is with this latter aspect in mind that Harold Perkin characterised the university teacher as a key profession (Perkin, 1969).

This paper sets out to map the relation between social function, institution, corps, and cognitive base in the Swedish system of higher education, from the beginnings in 1477 until the present day. We assume (a) that these aspects evolve in different tempi, and (b) that they coalesce into particular configurations. We argue that this framework allows us to address central issues regarding the historical trajectory of higher education inSweden. Through which mechanisms did a medieval institution, catering primarily to ecclesiastical needs, acquire a capacity to accommodate and become the custodian of scientific knowledge? How has the increasing differentiation of the cognitive base affected the composition of the corps? How have shifts in the composition of the corps affected the internal workings of the university? And what role does this play in the formation of university teaching as a key profession?

4. Between science and occupation

Agevall, Ola

et al.

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences.

Olofsson, Gunnar

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences.

Platzer, Ellinor

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences.

Sjöstrand, Glenn

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Social Sciences.

This study aims to examine the work-related values of Generation Y and why they exhibit these values. In order to understand this group of people and explain the reasons to their values the theoretical framework will primarily be Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of the individual society and Göran Ahrne’s theory of organizations. In a small addition, this study also aims to assess the possible consequences of these values in the labour market. Especially in relation to organization’s Employer Branding, i.e. their strategies to attract, motivate and retain workers. Previous research shows that work-related values differ between generations. We are using a qualitative method collecting data through interviews to get a detailed and nuanced view of their values.

The study indicates that the people of Generation Y value development and social environment (including leadership) the most. It serves as ways to cope with the uncertainties of the flexible society. They also seem to value instant gratification as a result of being used to getting that through innovations such as the Internet. If this need is not satisfied it is likely that their motivation drops and that they start looking for alternative jobs. They seem to be driven by the need for development and this combines with their lack of patience to result in frequent job changes. Organizations will therefore face a difficult challenge to retain members of this generation. This task will be particularly notable as Generation Y soon becomes the largest generational group in the labour market.

Background: Different support services for family carers are available in Sweden through information and communication technologies (ICTs) since late 1990s, like ACTION, My Joice, IPPI, ‘The Gap’, and Carer Sweden’s online ‘Carer’s Book’. The INNOVAGE-Eurocarers platform aimed to complement the offer of web services to carers through the provision of a new tailored package.

Methods: The Swedish pilot test enrolled around 50 carers through contacts with professionals working with carers in different municipalities. They could access the following web-based services: information resources; individual support via e-mail and private messages; group support via social network and forum. Periodical writing activities were asked to active users in the forum, alternating expressive writing (EW) and time management (TM) writing tasks. Periodical reminders were sent in order to increase user involvement.

Results: Users were predominantly older, female carers, of which two thirds were over 65 years old. The web platform was perceived as a flexible tool, potentially accessible at any time, which gave users the possibility to exploit their experience as carers with others in similar situations. This peer exchange seemed to improve self empowerment, sense of solidarity and mutual learning. However, usage of the web platform was limited due to the low level of digital skills of some carers.

Conclusions: Although results confirmed usefulness and appropriateness of implemented web services, it is fundamental to address the issue of usability and accessibility in order to ensure a wider accessibility. An option might be to offer initial digital skill training and continuous technical support for computer novices.

9. Jämställdhet eller illusion?

Annie, Onemark

Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Studies.

This study is about experts in equality. These experts have extensive knowledge and the cultural and structural phenomena that effects individual’s way of looking at equality. European Gender Equality Index for the first decade of the twenty first century shows that equality is far from reaching its structural aim for equality.

The purpose of this study is to find out how cultural and structural phenomena effects equality in organisations, how the experts experience these phenomena and what role they play in the experts work for equality. The study is based on a qualitative approach and has given empirical material through seven interviews with experts. To best understand and present the empirical material I have chosen two theoretical perspectives to work with. Out of these theoretical perspectives four concepts: gender, norm, gender segregation and homochirality has been used to explain the findings.

The result shows that historically inherited structural and cultural phenomena still control many parts of equality. The construction of equality is still portraited by men as the norm even though findings also show segregation within the female gender. Homosociality excludes women and gender is no longer only between men and women but between masculine and feminine. Findings also suggest that even the experts are questioned in their gender when implementing equality in organisations. This study has contributed with deeper insight into equality experts prerequisites to structural and cultural phenomena.

Criminalization of sexual relations outside the institution of marriage in Iran fosters – among other means – concealment as one of the safest methods to undermine social and legal impediments. In a context where any alternative practices of sexualities are subject to persecution, sexual concealments are applied as tactics for survival. The female body in such a normative-laden society is conditioned by its “openness” which makes it a subject of honor for family and kin and core for the management of desire and regulating the intimate for the theocratic state. Based on life stories of young women who have had pre-marital sexual relations in Tehran, this article addresses sexual concealment as the main method used by those women. Findings of the study suggest a three-fold model of concealment practiced in various social settings. Body concealment which was encouraged by the families and authorities to reduce the visibility of the female body during adolescence, engenders other types of concealment. Lesbian-like practices were utilized by women in homosocial settings to undermine the heteronormative social structure. Concealment of sexual orientations, desires and practices was applied to “keep the order of things in place” and to undermine the repressive policies and practices based on the socio-religious normative.

BACKGROUND: Many studies investigated factors associated with overuse of Emergency Department (ED) by older people. However, there is little evidence of how a better access to long-term care services can affect ED visit rates. Therefore, we estimated the association between ED use and contextual (distance to closest ED), need (priority level at admission and care deprivation), predisposing (socio-economic conditions) and enabling factors (availability of health services) at the municipal level.

METHODS: We investigated ED visit rates by comparing the older population (aged 75 and more) to those aged less than 75 years among 233 municipalities and 13 health districts in the Marche Region, Central Italy. Administrative data were enriched by spatial dimensions. The outcomes were analysed using t-tests and ANOVA, while OLS and multilevel regressions have been used to identify independent correlates of ED visit rates.

RESULTS: Mean ED visit rate was 56.3% and 25.3% among older people and the rest of the population (< 75 years), respectively. The multivariate analysis for older people showed that the presence of an ED within the municipality and living alone were positively associated with ED use, whereas greater availability of nursing homes was negatively associated. For general population (< 75 years), distance to closest ED, economic deprivation and bigger hospitals were negatively associated with ED visits.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that interventions to reduce frequent ED use by older people should include the availability of long-term care facilities in the area. As population ageing is progressing, our results suggest that investing in alternative care options for older people with long-term care needs might have the beneficial impact of reducing the overall ED rates and improving quality and appropriateness of care.

Introduction: While healthy ageing represents a pre-condition for older people to enjoy a longer and disability-free life span, quality of life in older age is dependent also upon society’s ability to grant individuals social protection, as well as to promote their active participation in the community until the very end of life. These issues constitute a challenge for current and future research on ageing.

Method: A 2-year consultation process with over 70 international experts was conducted within the FUTURAGE work-stream focussedon social and economic resources in ageing research. This process allowed a comprehensive discussion on most relevant social participation and protection issues involving scientists, users’ organisations, policy makers and other stakeholders, which led to a set of specific research priorities.

Results: The main challenges identified for future ageing research concerning social participation are: ageism; migration; life-long learning; digital divide; spirituality; volunteering; mobility and accessibility; discrimination in the labour market; consumption and access to products and services; and work-life balance. As for social protection, the following core issues have been spotted: sustainability; support to informal carers (also through ICT-based services); efficiency; access to care; cost-effectiveness and quality of interventions; initiatives to improve intergenerational solidarity.

Conclusion: Societal challenges related to social participation and sustainability of social protection systems clearly urge new actions in research, practices and policy on ageing. In particular, the identification of over-arching issues, barriers and enablers contributes to strengthen scientific research in the field, as well as to support policy makers in improving social life and quality of life of older people.

Introduction: Italy is one of the most aged countries in the world, with a longstanding tradition of family care of the dependent elderly. Inrecent times, however, Italy has been witnessing in-depth social and cultural changes, which have been negatively impacting on informal care provision. In addition, the public long-term care (LTC) system highly relies on cash-for-care schemes for supporting older people, whereas “formal” care services are characterised by weak coverage and intensity. This situation has led to a remarkable increase in theprivate employment of migrant care workers (MCWs), whose number increased by four times in the last two decades.

Method: An overview of MCWs phenomenon in Italy is provided through the analysis of empirical data retrieved by available official sources at national level, as well as by results from own surveys conducted in recent years on large samples of MCWs.

Results: The following opportunities and challenges concerning MCWs’ employment in the LTC sector were identified: improve MCW’s capacity to deliver quality care; reduce therisk of elder abuse and neglect and of meeting MCWs’ own care needs; increase their social integration in destination countries and reduce “care drain” in sending countries; and how to improve stakeholders’ involvement for a better exchange of good practices and more effective policy measures.

Conclusion: In these years, privately employed MCWs have contributed to change the traditional Italian “family care model” into a new “migrant-in-the-family care model”. However, the issue concerning the sustainability of this model within the Italian LTC system in the future is still open.

Background: Family carers can be negatively influenced by their situation, in terms of stress, social isolation, economic constraints and other difficulties. Web-based services addressing carers’ needs represent an efficient support. The goal of the INNOVAGE work package 3(WP3) study was to develop and test a new multilingual web platform for supporting family carers of older people, to be implemented in 27 European countries.

Methods: A review of good practices and a consultation with stakeholders were conducted for identifying most appropriate types of services to be developed and tested. The prototype of web platform included information resources and interactive services for both peer and professional support. A convenient, overall sample of around 130 family carers was enrolled in three countries (Italy, Germany and Sweden) and could access services for 12-17 weeks. Data were collected through questionnaires and focus groups concerning impact onquality of life, social support, self-perception of carer’s role, as well as usability, usefulness and appropriateness of services.

Results: Active users were generally satisfied with support (information, advice, counselling) provided by moderators (social workers or psychologists) and peers. Usability and appropriateness were confirmed, although some refinements were suggested and users with low digital skills often needed technical support. A portion of the sample remained inactive even if stimulation strategies were adopted.

Conclusions: The pilot study confirmed the INNOVAGE Eurocarers web platform is a useful tool for family carers. Some challenges still exist for implementation in relation to digital skills required and users’ preferences on services at country level.

Background: An estimated 50 million people in the European Union live with multiple chronic diseases. In Italy, around 26.6% of the population aged 16 to 64 years, reported to have at least one long-standing illness or health problem in 2011. Moreover, around 46% of the population over 50 is suffering from multimorbidity. Some programmes addressing adult or older people with multimorbidity have been introduced.

Methods: Data for the ICARE4EU study were collected in the first half of 2014. Eligible programmes focussed on providing care for adult people with two or more medically diagnosed chronic or long lasting diseases (at least onesomatic), involved formalised cooperation between two or more services (at least one medical) and evaluation was available. For each programme an on-line questionnaire was completed and included four main subjects: Patientcentredness, Management, Use of E-health technologies, and Financing systems.

Results: In Italy, four programmes met the inclusion criteria. They address both daily patient care and policy/managerial levels. Integration of care services, improved collaboration between care providers, changes in resource utilisation and involvement of informal carers have been observed. In two programmes, older patients are addressed as specific subgroup and in two cases animprovement in the use of E-health tools has emerged.

Conclusions: In Italy, new policies and integrated care programmes addressing multimorbidity have been recently introduced in some areas, with good preliminary results.

Introduction: Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have gained an increasing relevance for delivering innovative care and support services for dependent older people and their family caregivers. Although ICT-based interventions can vary remarkably in terms of functions, target users, operational aspects and technologies used, little knowledge is available concerning their implementationand impact in Europe, a gap that the CARICT project (http://is.jrc.es/pages/EAP/eInclusion/carers.html) has tried to fill.

Method: 54 ICT-based interventions addressing needs of older peopleor their family caregivers have been identified in 12 European countries through internet search, literature review and expert interviews. Reports have been delivered for each case studied, and cross-analysed to better understand their potential impact at micro, meso and macro level.

Results: Little evidence was found for positive outcomes at micro-level, including improvements in users’ health relatedquality of life and social inclusion. At meso-level, implementation of 1st/2nd generation telecare contributes to reduce hospitalization and institutionalization rates of older users, as well asto cost savings for local care providers. At macro-level, only one intervention shows concrete effects on a larger scale through a targeted program evaluation, while most ICT-based interventions do not useany tool to assess their impact, and can thus demonstrate only technology acceptance or users’ satisfaction.

Conclusion: The lack of relevant evidence at all levels, as well as difficulties in comparing and generalising results, strongly urge practitioners to improve impact assessment methodologies and researchers to develop a better general framework of ICT potentials at a conceptual, theoretical and methodological level in this area.

“Collaboration” is generally portrayed as being beneficial to authorities, even if previous collaborative research shows that conflicts are common between authorities who are supposed to cooperate. What takes place when different actors in the collaboration meet in practice? And what is the best way to analyse this? In qualitative studies, it is often problematic to go from an exhaustive analysis of individual empirical instances to an overall picture of the context or phenomenon in which all instances taken together can be viewed as a case. Years of close engagement with the data may interfere with the analyst’s capacities and opportunities to contextualize a study more broadly and theoretically, and detailed knowledge about a range of situations in the field may make novel contextualizations difficult. This article discusses how to overcome such obstacles, using examples from a study about a “collaboration” project in Swedish youth care.

Previous collaboration research shows that problems and conflicts sometimes arise as a part of collaboration. Researchers have highlighted the importance of narratives, but have not focused on narratives about successful cooperation. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories of successful cooperation, even if it unfolds during shorter interaction sequences. The aim is to analyze how and when the actors within youth care portray successful cooperation, and which discursive patterns are involved in the construction of this phenomenon. The empirical basis for this study is formed by 147 recorded interviews with institution-placed youths, their parents, and different occupational categories within the social services and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. The personal interactive aspect of cooperation among actors in youth care is important to the success of a collaboration. This aspect also appears to have significance for producing and reproducing joint collaboration identities. However, joint collaboration identities and the coherence triad can limit the sphere of cooperation to the youth care entities: the juvenile (or his/her parents) is left out.

The aim of this study is to analyze how and when the professional actors within the Swedish child welfare system portray successful cooperation and determine which discursive patterns are involved in the construction of this phenomenon. The empirical basis for this study is formed by 147 recorded interviews with institution-placed youths, their parents, and different occupational categories within the social services and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) coherent vision triad, (2) coherent rhetorically accepted triad, and (3) coherent exclusive triad. The personal interactive aspect of cooperation among professional actors in the care of children is important for successful collaboration. This aspect also appears to be significant for producing and reproducing joint collaboration identities. However, joint collaboration identities and the coherence triad can limit the sphere of cooperation to the entities involved in the care of youths and the juvenile or his/her parents are left out.

Previous collaboration research shows that problems and conflicts sometimes arise as a part of collaboration. Researchers have highlighted the importance of narratives, but have not focused on narratives about successful cooperation. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories of successful cooperation, even if it unfolds during shorter interaction sequences. The aim is to analyze how and when the actors within youth care portray successful cooperation, and which discursive patterns are involved in the construction of this phenomenon. The empirical basis for this study is formed by 147 recorded interviews with institution-placed youths, their parents, and different occupational categories within the social services and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. The personal interactive aspect of cooperation among actors in youth care is important to the success of a collaboration. This aspect also appears to have significance for producing and reproducing joint collaboration identities. However, joint collaboration identities and the coherence triad can limit the sphere of cooperation to the youth care entities: the juvenile (or his/her parents) is left out.

Earlier research on collaboration shows that cooperation comprises problems and conflicts. The purpose of this study is to describe successful collaboration even if it unfolds during shorter interaction frequencies. In the article, interactive patterns involved in the construction of these phenomena will be analyzed. Forming the empirical basis for this study are 119 field observations of organized meetings and informal meetings before and after organized meetings, during visits to youth care institutions in Sweden, social services offices, and the Swedish National Board of Institutional Care. In this study, markers are used to define successful cooperation in the empirical material, so that actors who belong to at least three different categories will be identified. The professional actors can also shape a coherent triad with young people or parents in cases where past conflicts arise. When some professionals create a distance from other professional partners, conflicts can be erased so as to generate new conditions for coherence of the triad. Construction and reconstruction of collaboration success is an ongoing, interactive process. Presentation of the proper interaction moral is created and re-created during interactions and appears in the myriad everyday interactions.

Reason(s) for writing and research problem(s): This article analyzes the experiences retold by former concentration camp detainees who were placed in concentration camps like civilians at the beginning of the Bosnian war in the 1990s. Aims of the paper (scientific and/or social): The article aims to describe the recounted social interaction rituals after time spent in a concentration camp as well as identifying how these interactions are symbolically dramatized. Methodology/Design: The empirical material for this study was collected through qualitative interviews held with nine former camp detainees and four close relatives. Research/paper limitations: The analyzed empirical examples revealed how the camp detainees’ victim identity is created, recreated, and retained in contrast to ‘the others’ – the camp guards. The camp detainees’ portrayal of their victim identity presents their humiliated self through dissociation from the camp guards. Results/Findings: The detainees’ new (altered) moral career is presented as a result of the imprisonment at the camp and the repetitive humiliation and power rituals. The importance of the camp guards was emphasized in these rituals, in which the detainees’ new selves, characterized by moral dissolution and fatigue, emerged. General conclusion: In their stories of crime and abuse in the concentration camps, the detainees reject the guards’ actions and the designation of ‘concentration camp detainee’. The retold stories of violation and power rituals in the camps show that there was little space for individuality. Nevertheless, resistance and status rituals along with adapting to the conditions in the camps seem to have generated some room for increased individualization. To have possessed some control and been able to resist seems to have granted the detainees a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance. Research/paper validity: The interviewees’ rejections of the guards’ actions and their forced “camp detainee” status could be interpreted as an expression of de-ritualization, leading away from their own earlier experiences. The subsequently illustrated myriad of everyday interactions, which can be distinguished analytically in the interviewees’ stories, expose rituals of humiliation, power, resistance, and status. Through these, we see the interviewees’ loss of identity, others’ recognition of one’s identity, emotional involvement, and different symbols of resistance.

This article analyses the experiences retold by former concentration camp detainees who were placed in concentration camps at the beginning of the Bosnian war in the 1990s. The article aims to describe the recounted social interaction rituals after having spent time in a concentration camp as well as identifying how these interactions are symbolically dramatized. In their stories of crime and abuse in the concentration camps the detainees reject the guards actions and the category: ”concentration camp detainee”. The retold stories of violation- and power rituals in the camps show that there was little space for individuality. Never the less, resistance- and status rituals along with adapting to the conditions in the camps seem to have generated some room for increased individualization. To have possessed somewhat control and been able to resist seems to have granted a sense of honor and self-esteem for the detainees, not least after the war.

In the German camps during the Second World War, the aim was to kill from a distance, and the camps were highly efficient in their operations. Previous studies have thus analyzed the industrialized killing and the victims' survival strategies. Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on narratives about camp rituals, or analyzed post-war interviews as a continued resistance and defense of one’s self. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing stories told by former detainees in concentration camps in the Bosnian war during the 1990s. The article aims to describe a set of recounted interaction rituals as well as to identify how these rituals are dramatized in interviews. The retold stories of humiliation and power in the camps indicate that there was little space for individuality and preservation of self. Nevertheless, the detainees seem to have been able to generate some room for resistance, and this seems to have granted them a sense of honor and self-esteem, not least after the war. Their narratives today represent a form of continued resistance.

Purpose: The aim of this article was to analyze the retold experiences of 27 survivors from the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I have examined verbal markers of reconciliation and implacability and analyzed the described terms for reconciliation that are being actualized in the narratives. Design: The material for the study was gathered through qualitative interviews with 27 individuals who survived the war in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina. This study joins those narrative traditions within sociology where oral presentations are seen as both discursive- and experience-based. In addition, I perceive the concept of reconciliation as an especially relevant component in those specific stories that I analyzed. Findings: Stories on implacability, reconciliation, and conditions for reconciliation are not shaped only in relation to the war as a whole but also in relation to an individual’s wartime actions and those of others. In these stories, implacability is the predominant feature, but reconciliation is said to be possible if certain conditions are met. Examples of these conditions are justice for war victims, perpetrator recognition of crimes, and emotional commitment from the perpetrator (by showing remorse and shame, for example). Value: Previous research on post-war society emphasized structural violence with subsequent reconciliation processes. Researchers have focused on the importance of narratives, but they have neither analyzed conditions for reconciliation in post-war interviews. This article tries to fill this gap by analyzing the stories told by survivors of the Bosnian war during the 1990s.

Previous research on victimhood during and after the Bosnian war has emphasized the importance of narratives but has not focused on narratives about victimhood or analyzed post-war interviews as a competition for victimhood. This article tries to fill this gap using stories told by survivors of the Bosnian war during the 1990s. In this analysis of the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia, the aim is to describe the informants’ portrayal of “victimhood” as a social phenomenon as well as analyzing the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the category “victim”. When, after the war, different categories claim a “victim” status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories’ victim status are downplayed. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on.

This article is based on different types of empirical material, especially recorded interviews, carried out with 27 survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina, and field observations. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ and field notes description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon “war violence”. This study shows that narratives on the phenomenon “war violence” depict a decay of pre-war social order. The use of violence during the war is described as organized and ritualized, which implies that the use of violence became a norm in society, rather than the exception. The narratives on the phenomenon “war violence” produce and reproduce the image of human suffering and slaughter. Those subjected to violence are portrayed in a de-humanized fashion and branded as suitable to be exposed to it. In these stories, morally correct actions are constructed as a contrast to the narratives on war violence. In these descriptions, the perpetrator is depicted as a dangerous, evil, and ideal enemy. He is portrayed as a real and powerful yet alien criminal who is said to pose a clear threat to the social order existing before the war.

This article presents a theoretical and methodological model for analyzing the experiences retold by former concentration camp detainees who were placed in concentration camps as civilians at the beginning of the Bosnian war in the 1990s. The aim is to analyze the recounted rituals of war violence in concentration camp as well as identifying how the perpetrators of war violence and victims are symbolically defined in stories. In these descriptions, the perpetrator is defined as a dangerous, evil, and ideal enemy. He is portrayed as a real and powerful yet alien criminal. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of war violence in the camps during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of war violence that is organized and conducted on a daily basis. The aim of this verbal emphasis seems to be that the described acts of war violence in the camps, after the war obtain the status of an organized and ritualized war violence. By defining the perpetrators of war violence, the interviewed in the study implicitly point out the complementary opposition of the perpetrator - a victim of violence. The victim is presented as pre-war acquaintances, friends and neighbors of the perpetrators of violence. Victim of violence is defined as tired, dying in agony, inferior, de-humanized, stamped and helplessly left to the mercy of the perpetrators of war violence.

This article analyzes the experiences retold by former concentration camp detainees who were placed in concentration camps like civilians at the beginning of the Bosnian war in the 1990s. The article aims to analyze the narratives of war violence in concentration camp as well as identifying how the perpetrators of war violence and victims are symbolically defined in stories. In these descriptions, the perpetrator is defined as a dangerous, evil, and ideal enemy. He is portrayed as a real and powerful yet alien criminal. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of war violence in the camps during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of violence that is organized and conducted on a daily basis. The aim of this verbalb emphasis seems to be that the described acts of violence in the camps, after the war obtain the status of an organized war violence - genocide. By defining the perpetrators of war violence, the interviewed in the study implicitly point out the complementary opposition of the perpetrator - a victim of violence. The victim is presented as pre-war acquaintance, friends and neighbors of the perpetrators of violence. Victim of violence is defined as tired, dying in agony, inferior, de-humanized, stamped and helplessly left to the mercy of the perpetrators of war violence. Leading people to only one primary (deadly) collective identity exists at every place where the “ethnic identity” of people is considered more important than their personal, individual, civic, professional human identity. The merging of ethnonational identities into a completely homogeneous, massive, unique collective identity, which is substantially or (totally) different from some others - perfectly matches reproduction and the creation of new forms of violence.

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina presents a one-sided picture of the phenomenon ”war violence.” Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives but they have not focused on stories about war violence, nor have they analyzed the stories of war violence being a product of interpersonal interaction. This article tries to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives told by survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The aim is to analyze how the survivors describe violence during the war, and also to analyze those discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the category ”war violence.” The construction of the category ”war violence” is made visible in the empirical material when the interviewees talk about (1) a new social order in the society, (2) human suffering, (3) sexual violence, and (4) human slaughter. All interviewees define war violence as morally reprehensible. In narratives on the phenomena ”war violence” a picture emerges which shows a disruption of the social order existing in the pre-war society. The violence practiced during the war is portrayed as organized and ritualized and this creates a picture that the violence practice became a norm in the society, rather than the exception. Narratives retelling violent situations, perpetrators of violence and subjected to violence do not only exist as a mental construction. The stories live their lives after the war, and thus have real consequences for individuals and society.

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina has resulted in a one-sided presentation of the phenomenon of “war violence.” Researchers have emphasized the importance of narratives in general but have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this article is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing survivor narratives of the 1990s war in northwestern Bosnia. The focus is on analyzing interviewees’ descriptions of wartime violence and the discursive patterns that contribute to constructing the phenomenon of “war violence.” My analysis reveals an intimate relationship between how an interviewee interprets the biographical consequences of war violence and the individual’s own war experiences. All interviewees described war violence as something that is morally reprehensible. These narratives, from both perpetrators of violence and those subjected to violence, recount violent situations that not only exist as mental constructions but also live on even after the war; thus, they have real consequences for the individuals and their society.

The aim of this study is analyzing the narratives of survivors of thewar in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzingdiscursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon“war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions thatcaused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over.Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of thewar do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today.Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war andcontinue being important to individuals and social life. The crimescommitted in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide accordingto indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić andRatko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survivedthe war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present,ongoing relation with these communities: Some live therepermanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia.Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to whichnorthwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide,and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme infuture, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and“reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the politicalelite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war thathave been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia andHerzegovina onWar Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in myempirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) therhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasizeextermination and the systematization of violence during the war, theyproduce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collectivelevel. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts ofviolence be recognized as genocide.

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina have emphasized the importance of narratives without focusing on narratives mentioning war violence, but they have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon “war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions that caused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over. Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of the war do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today. Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war and continue being important to individuals and social life. Individuals who were expelled from northwestern Bosnia during the war in the 1990s are, in a legal sense, in a recognized violence-afflicted victim category. Several perpetrators were sentenced by the Hague Tribunal and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime. The crimes committed in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide according to indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survived the war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present, ongoing relation with these communities: Some live there permanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia. Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to which northwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide, and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme in future, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and “reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the political elite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war that have been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts of violence be recognized as genocide.

Previous research on violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina have emphasized the importance of narratives without focusing on narratives mentioning war violence, but they have not analyzed stories on war violence that were the product of interpersonal interaction and meaning-making activity. The aim of this study is to fill this knowledge gap by analyzing the narratives of survivors of the war in northwestern Bosnia in the 1990s. The focus lies on analyzing interviewees’ description of war-time violence and also analyzing discursive patterns that contribute in constructing the phenomenon “war violence”. Analysis shows that the interpersonal interactions that caused the violence continue even after the violent situation is over. Recollections from perpetrators and those subjected to violence of the war do not exist only as verbal constructions in Bosnia of today. Stories about violent situations live their own lives after the war and continue being important to individuals and social life. Individuals who were expelled from northwestern Bosnia during the war in the 1990s are, in a legal sense, in a recognized violence-afflicted victim category. Several perpetrators were sentenced by the Hague Tribunal and the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime. The crimes committed in northwestern Bosnia are qualified as genocide according to indictments against former Serbian leaders Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić. All interviewees in this study experienced and survived the war in northwestern Bosnia. These individuals have a present, ongoing relation with these communities: Some live there permanently, and some spend their summers in northwestern Bosnia. Institutions in the administrative entity Republika Srpska (to which northwestern Bosnia now belong administratively) deny genocide, and this approach to war-time events becomes a central theme in future, post-war analysis of the phenomena “war violence”, and “reconciliation”. Therefore, it is very important to analyze the political elite’s denial of the systematic acts of violence during the war that have been conveyed by the Hague Tribunal, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on War Crime, and Bosnian media. The narratives in my empirical material seem to be influenced by (or coherent with) the rhetoric mediated in these fora. When informants emphasize extermination and the systematization of violence during the war, they produce and reproduce the image of a mutual struggle on a collective level. The aim of this struggle seems to be that the described acts of violence be recognized as genocide.

In a study of a project concerning Swedish juvenile care professionals, youngsters and parents were studied by ethnographic field observations as well as interviewed. During the course of the investigation various and shifting triads forming conflicts as well as alliances were observed. In this paper the triads described in interviews will be compared to field observations of triads formed during various meetings connected to the juvenile care project. I will analyze similarities and differences in retold triads during interviews and interactional “in situ” formed triads according to (1) different alliance formations, (2) different roles in changing constellations, (3) the temporal development of the alliances in the triad and (4) the alliance’s including and excluding function in the triads.

My goal with this article is to analyse the retold experiences of 27 survivors of the 1990s war in north-western Bosnia. I focus on describing the informants' portrayal of “victimhood” as a social phenomenon as well as analysing those discursive patterns which contributed in constructing the category “victim” and ”perpetrator”. When, after the war, different actors claim this “victim” status, it sparks a competition for victimhood. All informants are eager to present themselves as victims while at the same time the other categories' victim status is downplayed. Different categories appear and they are: ”the remainders” those who lived in north-western Bosnia before, during and after the war; “the fugitives” those who driven into north-western Bosnia during the war; “the returnees” those who returned after the war and “the diaspora” those who were driven out from north-western Bosnia and remained in their new country. The competition between these categories seems to take place on a symbolic level. All interviewees want to portray themselves as ”ideal victims” but they are all about to lose that status. The returnees and the diaspora are losing status by receiving recognition from the surrounding community and because they have a higher economic status, the remainders are losing status since they are constantly being haunted by war events and the refugees are losing status by being presented as strangers and thus fitting the role of ideal perpetrators. In this reproduction of competition for the victim role, all demarcations that were played out so successfully during the war live on.